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Select GM Vehicles May Soon Offer iPhone Car Key Support

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Car key support for select General Motors vehicles could be added to the Apple Wallet app in the near future, according to code discovered by MacRumors. Apple has added settings for GM vehicles to an internal list of vehicles that offer car key integration.

iPhone-Car-Key-Kia.jpg

Digital car keys let users lock, unlock, and start their vehicles using the NFC capabilities of an iPhone or Apple Watch. Apple began supporting NFC-based digital keys in the Wallet app in 2022, and car manufacturers have since been adopting the feature.

At WWDC, Apple said that 13 vehicle brands would "soon" be adding support for digital car keys, including GMC, Chevrolet, and Cadillac. The other brands include Acura, Porsche, Rivian, Smart, Lucid Motors, Tata Motors, Hongqi, WEY, Chery, and Voyah.

Car keys in the Wallet app will be available for select Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac models, but GM has not provided details on specific models that will offer support. So far, only the 2026 Chevy Silverado EV and the 2026 GMC Sierra EV are confirmed to include digital key integration.

Apple has now added backend support for GM, Voyah, and Smart vehicles, but the car manufacturers have yet to roll out car key functionality.

Select newer vehicles from BMW, Genesis, Kia, Audi, Hyundai, Lotus, Mercedes, Volvo, and more offer car keys support, with a list available on MacRumors.com.

Article Link: Select GM Vehicles May Soon Offer iPhone Car Key Support
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/14/gm-cars-car-key-support/
This might be the thing I most wish my car had. VW requires me to carry around a huge heavy key fob. It feels like a ball and chain, and almost literally is. The key seems like the most insignificant thing about a car since it's not even part of the car, but it's actually the thing you interact with the most, since you have to ALWAYS carry it around when you go out, whether or not you're actively driving. A card like Tesla has would be much better than my brick key fob, but a digital key to use with phone or watch proximity would be most ideal. Car keys and keys in general need to go digital ASAP, with physical keys as an option.
 
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Hajj.david said:
Only on the EV's, on the good models (like the diesel tahoe) it supports carplay and android auto
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For now...but their long term plan is to eliminate CP/AA from all their models and force customers into a subscription plan. I have owned/leased a Chevy Volt and three Chevy Bolts....those will be my last General Motors cars unless they change their policy.
 
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To answer some questions from above:

Auto companies have trailed tesla and other on this for security reasons. they are cautious adopting new things as it is, but there are a whole new set of worries for what happens if someone can get access to your car using a phone as a key system.

Auto companies would add this as a trickle down luxury feature. “Look! You no longer have to carry two things in your pocket. You just need the phone or watch you were already going to take anyway. No need for a fob anymore”.

Also based on my understanding, i believe this is a actually a UWB implementation, not NFC, so i think the article might be calling out the wrong protocol, but it has been a while since i was in that industry.

And this is completely unrelated to adding CarPlay. This is using a key system to replace a fob. Nothing to do with infotainment. The CarPlay decision is strictly money. They want to monetize the info of what you do in the car and if they cannot see it because youa re using your phone, they cannot monetize it. If you don’t offer CarPlay, then they get to see it at some point. They don’t lose any future revenue by letting you use your phone as a key. That is a feature to sell the car, not for post delivery revenue.
 
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eltoslightfoot said:
Can someone explain why car manufacturers would ever adopt this?
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Kar98 said:
And the advantage over this is…?

View attachment 2567799
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Because it's less to carry. More secure. A lost phone is locked. A lost key is a key.

I've not carried Car keys, House keys, Credit cards in 4 years. Phone covers it all and the watch is a backup. The ONLY thing I use a car for even is to get cash out and it's crazy you can't use Apple/Google or whatever 'Pay' to tap for cash. Ironically the only place I have seen tap for cash is set amounts at Arcades!
 
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Anonymous Freak said:
You don't have to carry a keychain. (My two "daily driver" vehicles both have phone-as-a-key, the only time I ever grab my keychain is when I drive my "fun weekend" vehicle.)

A *LOT* harder to duplicate/steal.
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I still have to carry a keychain for my mailbox front door office door desk drawers… and thanks to Flipper, ridiculously trivial to duplicate. Also, still need driver's license, and other license.
 
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segfaultdotorg said:
I don't know why they are bothering if they can't do the bare minimum like offer CarPlay.
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They do, just not in their EVs.
phrogpilot said:
For now...but their long term plan is to eliminate CP/AA from all their models and force customers into a subscription plan. I have owned/leased a Chevy Volt and three Chevy Bolts....those will be my last General Motors cars unless they change their policy.
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I loved the Volt. To me a plugin hybrid is the only vehicle that makes sense unless you exclusively drive very short distances in a city and you can have in home car charging.
CapitalIdea said:
But they are refusing to continue supporting CarPlay, so I'll never use the key anyway because I will NEVER buy a car from them.
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All of their new vehicles (except their EVs) have carplay. There is no stated plan to discontinue carplay from future ICE vehicles. They are doing it to their EVs because Tesla whipped electric car owners and now like 80% of EVs on the market do not support carplay.
 
Onelifenofear said:
Because it's less to carry. More secure. A lost phone is locked. A lost key is a key.
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Sort of. I have this on my Kona EV and I even have the digital key set to express mode (no need to unlock), but it’s still kind of tedious versus a fob.

Unless your car has the NFC+UWB dual function, a fob is still much faster.
 
Tesla’s have had this since forever… I’m amazed this is not mainstream by now - it’s been years since I used a key fob. One of the greatest benefits of owning a Tesla. No keyfob and no start button. You get in the car and you are ready to go.
 
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I don’t know if it later changed but several years ago, after car keys were announced Farley at ford, when asked if ford would support car key, made very elliptical statements of like “we are supporting opening the car with the phone” and I thought “why isn’t he, himself an Apple Watch wearer in that interview” adding “… and watch too”.

In the meantime, as I understand it, one unlocks the car via the Ford app. What crap.

So I am disappointed that ford is not on this list but am not surprised.
 
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